Vacation Day Three and Four

hey all,

So I should preface this by saying that it is 1AM and I have had several rum and cokes with a buddy earlier.

Wednesday was not too exciting. I finished Dragon Age 2, and did some more packing. That was honestly most of the day. I also talked briefly with Michi and we called off the trip this weekend.

Thursday I got up and went over to Matsumoto all by my lonesome. It would have been just a little too stressful to try to coordinate with Michi this weekend, and the weather just didn't look that great. Matsumoto Castle was really amazing. I met with some mountain climbing retired guys who were volunteering as English guides to the castle and they explained a lot of the history and finer points of castle building/defense.

After that, I picked up some duck soba, which was really tasty. There is a special type of soba dish which Matsumoto is famous for, but I had to go with the duck soba, since it is one of my favorite Japanese dishes of all time. Following lunch, I went to the Ukiyoe Museum, which was difficult to find and a little bit small, but still worth the trip.

I should mention that from Yokohama it is about a 3 hour train ride to Matsumoto, so I had over 6 hours of commuting today. I arranged to hang out with a buddy on my way back to Yokohama, and we got caught up over some rum and cokes.

I literally caught the last train to Yokohama and they closed the station behind me. For some reason, a lone white guy with a backpack walking drunkenly from the station at 12AM is like catnip to your average streetwalker, and I found myself getting propositioned more and more insistently the farther I got from the station (until of course I was so far away that there weren't any streetwalkers). I had my MP3 player going, so I'm not sure if they were advertising as masseurs, or what.

Tomorrow will be spent recovering from today, and maybe doing some more packing.

Cheers,

Vacation Day 2: Tequila and Oatmeal

hey all,

Today, I went over to the city hall and consulted about my health insurance and citizen's taxes. They were very helpful, and they actually were able to have my insurance terminate on the day I'll be moving, and take the old payment forms and give me a new one, plus an envelop to send my expired health insurance card back in.

I couldn't believe it. I went there without any of the new address information, so I couldn't even give them the complete new address. I honestly didn't think they be able to do so much for me, which is why I didn't have any of the info.

After that, I made a batch of mabo tofu, which turned out really tasty. I also raided the guesthouse for cardboard boxes and got another load of packing down, mostly my books, CDs, some drink bottles, and souvenirs. I'm also trying to get rid of left over food stuffs: hence the tequila and oatmeal.

I even got to spend several hours playing Dragon Age 2.

Cheers,

Vacation Day 1

hey all,

Yesterday evening, I tried to reserve a ticket to see Studio Ghibli's museum again (I had tried to do the same thing when Bri came to visit during Christmas, but every time slot was already taken), and for this whole week, every time slot was yet again taken.

Today was taken up with running several errands. I checked the bus times and hotel rates for rooms near Matsumoto, ran over to Kamoshika to see whether they had solar battery chargers for smartphones and to check out their sports watches, then headed to Akihabara to meet up with John. We did some shopping: I looked at watches and picked out a solar battery charger, and John picked up a bunches of souvenirs for his family. Since we were in Akihabara, it wouldn't have been complete without a trip to the local Hub for a drink.

I also picked up some sneakers to use as indoor shoes at my school: my old slippers that I brought from the US were getting stinky, and the lining was falling apart, and I'd worn a hole through the sole of the right one with my big toe.

And I've started to pack up my things: my climbing and camping gear is all packed up, along with my winter clothes that I obviously will not be needing for several months. I might try to do my books tonight as well, but there isn't any real hurry. I have tomorrow, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday as well. I've contacted a "guy and a van" style moving company to get an estimate, but I haven't heard back from them yet. The worst case scenario is that I'd have to move everything basically myself again. A scenario slightly better would be that I could get some help from Michi's dad. The main thing I'm not looking forward to with moving is having to carry the stuff from the guesthouse to the station, which is a good 13 minute walk when lightly loaded. When carrying 40 plus pounds of stuff 5 or 6 times each trip, it becomes a real trek.

I will also be trying to head into the city office to ask about health insurance. I've received the bill for the next 3 or four months, but national health insurance is paid to where you are currently living. Since I'll be moving in about 2 weeks, I want to know if I should pay the health insurance as normal or if I should pay only after receiving new bills from my new address's city office.

Cheers,

Weekend "Alone"

hey all,

So my weekend by myself has been pretty pleasant. I've done a few loads of laundry, skyped with my parents, played video games with Bri, had drinks with John, and gone indoor rock climbing with one of the foreigners who recently moved in to my guesthouse. So at least the flood of people moving in hasn't been all negative: I've got someone close by to chat with in English (who I don't also work with, which is important because I really want to keep professional and personal matters separate as much as I can), and in the same person I've got a workout/climbing partner.

Climbing also went pretty well today, although I think both of us weren't in the best form, but we still got in a decent number of climbs.

Michi and I talked some more. Things will work out. Having a weekend off to do other things and gather my thoughts and look at the situation has really helped, as well as the advice I've gotten from others.

I've got another week of work ahead of me, so I'm going to get to preparing lunches and tonight's dinner.

Cheers,

Hahhhh.

hey all,

I had a great weekend. I didn't have to work on Saturday, so I picked up some root beer,chipotle Tabasco sauce, and tea from Kaldi, bought a new shower puff ball, and also two new study books for Japanese. My favorite website, smart.fm, is becoming a paysite soon so I won't be able to use it. I also made a fresh batch of peanut butter, but I do this almost weekly, so it isn't that big a deal.

I studied a little bit of Japanese, played some video games (and decided to sell 3 more games, leaving me with only two), until I went to Tokyo to meet up with Travis. A long island ice tea later, and we were watching Gantz at a nearby theater. Although it probably won't make it to US theaters, should you get the opportunity to see it, don't bother. The manga is much better, and if you haven't read the manga, you won't understand what is going on anyway. If you have read the manga, then you will just be disappointed at the shallow characterization, poor handling of the alien fights, and the disjointed pace at which the movie proceeds.

Sunday, Michi and I came to Yokohama and walked around the Chinatown district. No, there weren't any shootings, strange water shortages, or incestuous relationships (if none of that makes sense, go see Chinatown with Jack Nicholson), but there were some colorful temples, lots of Chinese grocery stores, and some really good Chinese restaurants. We had picked where we were going to eat from the internet before getting there, but we kind of stumbled onto the restaurant while taking in the sights. For 2000 Yen each, we got a bowl of mapo dofu, some sweet and sour pork, fried pork cutlet with chopped greens and jellyfish, a bowl of corn egg-drop soup, and a coconut flavored pudding/jelly of some sort. Everything was delicious, but I think I now have an unhealthy obsession with mapo dofu, because I'm now determined to see if I can make it myself and have it taste like that restaurant's. I've found 3 ingredients that are only listed in some versions of the recipe that I think will be the keys. In particular, there is a pepper-like spice called sansho in Japanese which gives you the weirdest feeling in your mouth, kind of like licking a battery except more pleasant.

The only other things worthy of note are that we now have new shower rooms at my guesthouse, which is nice because the old ones were really bad, and that I should be getting the results from the JLPT (Japanese Language Proficiency Test) in the next two weeks or so.

Cheers,

More Climbing

hey all,

More climbing this weekend. Michi and I went to the climbing gym Friday night after work, and there was hardly a soul there. We got to climb a lot, but they haven't changed any of the routes recently, so I think I have climbed almost all of them several times now. I was actually able to climb a 5.11a, which surprised me. After climbing a few routes, even 5.10c's and 5.10d's become hard if not impossible.

Just relaxed on Saturday and met up with a friend back in Omiya for drinks, but Sunday Michi and I went to Yugawara yet again. The weather was nice, and we arrived a little late, so it was even more crowded than usual. Still, I lead a couple 5.10b's, a 5.10b/c, and top roped a 5.10c. I tried a 5.10d on lead, but I had to come down after three bolts. That was the second time I'd tried that route, and the second time I failed it. At the gym, and outside, I want to start practicing lead climbing 5.10c's and 5.10d's more, so I can eventually climb it. The fact that I successfully climbed an 5.11a makes me think that I might be able to do a 5.12 eventually, which would put me into the "pro" category of climbers.

Tomorrow, I start my first full week of work: until now, I've been working 2 or 3 days a week, so this will mean for next month's paycheck I can finally make some decent cash. Still looking for part time work, or even a full time replacement job, but no luck so far.

My only other news is that I watched part of 300 on Japanese cable today. It was dubbed into Japanese, so I could get a few new words and phrases from it, and also just enjoy the pictures, since 300 is easily one of the most beautifully shot films in recent years. Unfortunately, they cut some of the good parts out, but left some odd ones in: they cut a couple scenes that didn't really further the plot much, cut a bunch of violence out, cut some nude/sex scenes, but then left in some nude scenes latter on, though why I can't really understand.

Cheers,

Class, Or Something Like It

hey all,

Today I didn't have classes at all: I corrected some writing practice worksheets for my 3rd year students, and spent most of the rest of the time studying Japanese. For some reason, 80% or more of my 3rd year students think that "want to" + NOUN is an OK sentence pattern:

I want to cat

is a particularly popular sentence. You know what? I want to cat, too. If I had the time, I'd cat all over town. Just last night, me and your momma were catting all night long.

Anyway, they also made lots of mistakes with a/the/my, so I made a worksheet that explained when and how to use them. But "want to" + NOUN is such an idiotic mistake that I seriously can't think how to correct it, other than pointing out the obvious grammatical clues that they aren't picking up on.

We did in fact get some snow the other day, and right now it is also snowing. Most of it will probably be gone by the morning, but the local agencies don't seem to know what to do about it.

I seem to have an ear infection, so it's been a little hard to sleep and also difficult to keep focus at work.

I actually just got back from a trip to the bar with some ALTs. Really good night tonight.

Cheers,

Nice

hey all,

As is becoming standard, I had a quick drink with one of my ALT friends after work today, and he gave me a link to an incredible free site for studying Japanese. It has worksheets and info about the new test this year, as well as audio and flash files. The really cool thing about this is that I don't need to access the internet to use the audio or flash files: my Cowon "mp3" player handles flash files, and of course it can handle audio files, so I can use this cool device to study Japanese, in addition to listening to music and watching movies.

I may try to shoot for level two this July, but that means studying 6 hours every day from Monday to Friday: I'd need to acquire another 600 kanji, as well as about 4000 additional words in order to stand a chance of passing. Put another way, at that rate I could pass level 1 at the end of the year, or study only 3 hours each day Monday through Friday, and still pass level 2 in December. In the ten months I've been here, I've learned about 300 kanji, and maybe 1500 words or so. So in the next ten months, I'd need to triple the number of kanji and words that I currently know in order to pass level 2. Considering the amount of time I spent reading books instead of studying Japanese, I think this might actually be possible. Michi thinks I should take the level 2 in July, but the 6 hours each day really makes me doubt that I can sustain that rate over the 6 months until the test.

My own personal methods for studying Japanese:

• write each kanji about 20 times
• drill myself with flashcards
• use flashcards to make sentences using the word on each flashcard (e.g. two sentences per vocab. item)
• practice verb conjugation by creating 5 sentences using different forms of the verb in each
• use materials designed for native Japanese people to learn English (e.g. the English textbooks for my junior high school)
• use materials designed for native Japanese people to learn Japanese (e.g. the kanji puzzle books designed for elementary school children)
  

Well, I'm going to spend a bunch of money printing these worksheets out at Seven Eleven, so that's all for now.

Cheers,

Not Bad

hey all,

Today has been pretty fun. I taught at the elementary school, which even on bad days is still more fun than my junior high. Today was an especially good day at the elementary school: I did a lesson on weekdays and school subjects, and I even sang a weekday song! They had me eat lunch with the 2nd year students, who are barely above my knees. Cute as can be, but really annoying too. Kids that old aren't impressed by how much Japanese you speak, because they just don't have any clue what it takes. My 6th and 5th year students have to have regular English lessons, so they know. 2nd year students don't slow down or try to speak clearly for you, or use simple words (if anything, they get too excited about talking to a foreigner and talk faster); they just expect you to understand.

Tonight, I plan on meeting up with an ALT I first met on the morning train to my job. We usually just talk on the train, but we've gone out a few times as well. He's been having issues with his job, and I've been having issues with my girlfriend, so the plan is to drink, swap horror stories, sympathize, and give advice.

Cheers,

News Flash

hey all,

So things are...exactly the same, if not worse than when I last wrote. I still don't know where, or for what company I'll be working next year, don't know about my living situation (which is dependent on my work situation), and Michi and I are still...I don't know what we are.

However, I'm not in a constant state of anxiety anymore. I've been reaching out and cornering anyone who might help me, or just let me vent some steam and rant a bit. I've managed to keep relatively busy at work, which has also helped keep my mind off my problems. I mentioned that I committed to taking the JLPT test, so I've been printing out sample test questions for different levels, reading about how and when to register and all those glorious time consuming details. I started hitting the Japanese again, and my writing ability has improved quite a bit. I also started another round of applications, for all the good that the past ones have done me.

As I've mentioned in some of my emails to some of you, part of the problem was just thinking about these things ALL AT ONCE, and realizing that I couldn't fix any of it right now. That my future was not entirely in my own hands, but dependent on: my company, which is a pack of...I can't even go there; other companies that may accept or reject my applications; and a host of other ifs, on the other hands, and other imponderables.

As for Michi, God knows I like her, but...I can't get into that either. I feel like this weekend will be some kind of crucible: either we'll come out of it stronger, together, or I (at least) will have learned some valuable life lessons, found out more about what I need (and don't need) from a partner, and be ready to move on.

The stage for this momentous event is our usual dinner & a movie date. I've organized another rock climbing event for this Sunday, and starting Monday, there is some kind of running practice just before school starts that I decided I'd join my teachers and students in. I need to catch an earlier train in order to attend, but I've been going to bed early lately so I don't think it should be a problem.


Cheers,

More Work

hey all,

Glad to be finishing up this week, even though it was only four days long. Today, I somehow managed to teach during all six periods at the junior high school. A few other ALTs that I've spoken with or whose blogs I've read seem to agree that four periods is close to perfect, although there seems to be some disagreement about what the perfect arrangement is. Personally, I like teaching 4 classes straight through the morning, then napping/studying/reading/making worksheets at my desk for the two periods after lunch. Usually the high sugar content of the rice just makes me too sleepy to bring any energy to class. Other ALTs prefer 1,2, 4, 6 or some other spaced out schedule, since this gives them a free hour to prepare for upcoming classes. This can be nice sometimes, but unless I'm feeling energetic in the afternoon, I'd rather lose a class in the morning if I need a period to prepare something.

Something kind of interesting is the sadism of my 3rd year English teacher. Every time there is a vacation, when we return to school I have to make a speech about what I did. And every time, I know that my students had an asinine amount of homework to do, but my English teacher really seems to rub this in: "Ah, maybe you all had to study for the ... test, but David-sensei had lots of fun. Let's hear what he did." Not only that, but I have to be careful when making my speeches, because already some students have an unhealthy interest in my private life, and if I mention going to an onsen or making a trip that could be construed as romantic with someone else (accidentally saying "we" instead of "I"), they can't concentrate on the lesson and keep pestering me for details about my girlfriend.

It is not illegal to drink alcohol on the street in Japan, so another ALT and I had a few drinks outside (yes, in the cold) yesterday. He's been here for a while, and is always offering up advice. From what he said, it seems likely that my company does not sponsor visas for part-time jobs, which is what I'd be getting if I move to Tokyo. Further, in order to self-sponsor,  I need to have contracts with no less than 3 companies and make at least 250,000 Yen per month (about $2500). This in addition to paying more money for food, clothes, and other daily necessities, the hassle of coordinating between 3 part-time jobs, paying more for commuting between the 3 jobs, and probably paying more for rent.

And until (if) Michi and I move in together, we still probably won't be seeing each other any more often than now. I still have yet to receive any info on locations, etc from the Company. Supposedly, by next month they'll be able to tell me something. To me it feels like I'm (one-sidedly) making a lot of changes for really uncertain outcomes and nebulous benefits/gains. I guess moving over to Japan in the first place was kind of in the same realm, but I couldn't really expect Japan to make itself more accessible for my benefit.

Tomorrow I teach my first lesson of the new year at my elementary school.

 This weekend I'm organizing a rock climbing event on Saturday, and will be hanging out with John and his cousin in Harajuku on Sunday. Not sure if I'll be able to see Michi or not.

Cheers,

Weekend

hey all,

Interesting weekend. Got to talk and play some Bad Company with Bri Saturday morning, and continued to play video games, watch movies the rest of the day.

Actually, the interesting weekend started Friday, because the ALTs received their pay checks, and we also had our monthly meeting. I don't believe I've described them yet, so I'll go ahead and do that here. First, we get out of work a couple hours early so we can go the the meeting, which is held either in city hall or the Board of Education building (it changes). Those last couple of hours are usually dead time: for the meeting we only miss one class, and we don't have to pretend to be busy after classes are finished. We aren't scheduled long enough after school to take part in club activities, so we can't fill the time with that. So we really don't miss much.

Anyway, at the meetings, all the ALTs gather together with our coordinator, and discuss any problems we've been having. Usually, everyone has the same problems, but a few people really just like to complain. I've already written this job off, so I don't usually say anything at the meetings. We also do presentations about how to teach certain grammar points. I have gotten some good ideas from some of these presentations, but sometimes they are a waste of time.

The highlight of these meetings is actually the drinking of alcohol which takes place immediately afterwards. This is usually lots of fun, but I've taken to leaving them earlier than everyone else, because they frequently devolve into complain sessions: all the complaints that don't get voiced to the school, the students, and our company, all the complaints about Japanese people, culture, food, etc, just come gushing out in torrent of negativity, which I really can't stand. Sometimes there will be one person voicing a few positive things that just get drowned out in the rising tide. The last thing I need when I'm imbibing an emotional downer like alcohol is lots of negative things flying at me like the monkeys in The Wizard of Oz.

This month's post-meeting imbibing was going pretty well, but I still left early because this time I didn't feel like drinking lots of wine and whiskey on an empty stomach.

Today was supposed to be a shopping day, but that got nipped in the bud this morning when Michi suddenly got angry at me. We've made up, but I see lots of fights like this in the future. It boils down not to personality, character, bad habits, or anything like that, but just the fact that I'm American and she's Japanese. I have to admit that these conflicts have lost some of their cuteness.

Anyway, we did end up doing the shopping, and even tying up a few more loose ends about future trips.

Cheers,

Small Randomness

hey all,

I went out drinking the other night with a friend, and between our talk and the last blog post, I'm feeling much better.

Something I discovered the other day was that Fight Club does in fact have Japanese subtitles as advertised. However, in order to view them, you need to change the settings on your PS3 so that all menus, etc are displayed in Japanese, not English. Why this makes a difference, I don't know, but it's rather stupid when you get down to it: after all, the disc still has the same information on it, and it shouldn't matter what the interface language is; it should always display the same content and same options. That is, in fact, the point of writing interfaces in different languages: so that speakers from different countries can get access to the same features.

Anyway, Michi and I have taken to skyping in the middle of the week, since she sometimes stays at the office till 9 or 10 PM, which makes meeting impossible. Add to that the fact that she does yoga Monday and Thursday nights, and I'm doing my part time job on Thursdays, and taking the time meet during the week becomes a Herculean task.

As usual, we've been planning the holiday trips in advance and playing the intervening weekends by ear. I'd like to get in some climbing here soon, but we'll see. I might end up going by myself if worst comes to worst. For the holidays, we're working on trips to Nikko, some undecided location, and Kyoto.

Cheers,

School and Weekend

hey all,

So this week has gone relatively well. Not an incredible amount stuff going on at work, because my junior high school had their mid term examinations, so no classes for a few days. I helped out by making some tapes for the teachers to play during the listening portion of the tests, but other than that, I've been studying kanji, making flashcards, and reading.

I taught at the elementary school today, and this time they didn't try to steal my bike, which was nice. Lessons went pretty well, but I find I'm usually tired by the time Friday rolls around, which is kinda sad because I'd like to show my elementary classes a little more energy.

The big news is that I started a part time job yesterday at a small eikaiwa (English conversation school). One of my fellow ALT's decided to take a break from doing lessons on Thursdays, so he needed to find a replacement and offered the position to me. Right now, it's just Thursday evenings for a couple hours, but these kind of places have high turn over rates, so if I stick with it, I might get to take over more days. There is a lot more one-on-one teaching, since you're only dealing with 1 or 2 students at a time, and at least the first day was pretty fun. They wanted me to work weekends as well, but I refused. I should have asked if they would pay $60/hr for that time, but that would have amounted to refusing to work during the weekends anyway. No way am I giving up Michi-time or rock climbing time.

Speaking of which, Michi and I are doing a dinner and movie thing tomorrow: cooking dinner together, then watching a samurai movie that she recommended. Maybe Sunday we'll take a day trip to Nikko to see the autumn leaves, which are supposed to be spectacular.

Tonight I actually went to an outdoor club social night, and met up with several of the climbing members. Since I've started dating Michi, I almost feel like I've been neglecting the climbers in the club. Michi and I have gone climbing by ourselves maybe twice, and since we've been going out, I've only organized 2 trips for the club. So I'm thinking about organizing an outdoor climbing trip for the club next Saturday, but not sure where yet. Maybe Yugawara again, but as a day trip. I'd kinda like to do somewhere in Okutama, but it seems like the transportation is just not as convenient as for Yugawara.

That's all for now.

Cheers,

End of Week Two

hey all,

So I've finished my second week of work after summer vacation. About as interesting as the first week, except I did actually teach some classes this time.

Last night was a Friday, and there was a social night for the outdoor club and I decided I'd go to that. Really great time: a bunch of the people I've been climbing with showed up, and one of the more knowledgeable people has organized an outdoor climbing trip this Sunday, so we spent a lot of time drinking and talking about what equipment to bring, who'd be coming, etc. I've been waiting for this for quite a while, and it rocks that it is finally happening.

Only downside was I had to catch the Keihein-Tohoku line back to Omiya from Shimbashi (one of the wards in Tokyo). This is the slowest train I've ever ridden on. The "rapid" K-T train is two minutes faster than the regular one: it only skips 2 stops, but I got stuck with the slow version, and it took over an hour to get back home. Since it was the last train of the evening, all the drunk salarymen, housewives, college and high school punks etc, all crowded onto it. The concept of personal space really doesn't exist in situations like that.

Anyway, today is laundry day, and I've got bags to pack for climbing tomorrow.

Cheers,

Sleep

hey all,

I had a really late night at the bar last night. Hopping from one group of girls to another until 3AM, then back to my pad to crash. This whole week, I've been getting up around 11 or 12. Since I don't have school, and I'm not doing a whole lot, I've been sleeping about half the time. When I got back last night, I fully expected to sleep most of the day away, but instead I wake up at 5:30AM, and can't fall asleep again.

I wasn't sick, only a slight headache and that bar smell to show for a night's worth of imbibing. Already, this bar business feels really old, but on the other hand, I feel like I missed out on this when I was actually in college.

Why would I hop from one group to another, you ask? The first group was left at my table by someone else, like baggage. After talking to them for a while, they turned out to be college students on break, one of whom was actually technically underage (legal drinking age is 20, she was 19). After finding that out it was mostly downhill. Especially after ragging on one of my friends when some of his buddies tried to hook him up with a 19 year old, there was no way I was going to pursue that.

The next one was a group of friends who met in elementary school, some of them proved interesting, and one of them even liked climbing mountains. But most of them had boyfriends, and they had to leave soon after I started talking to them.

The last group was a bunch of staff members who were hanging out and drinking in one of the back rooms. Same deal as before: by now it was almost 2, and most of them had to leave soon, and the rest had boyfriends.

Tomorrow's outdoor trip is in Tanzawa, and there is another one next weekend all the way over on Sado Island. So my plan for today is to recouerate, and I'll probably do my Utsunomiya trip during the week instead, then next weekend go on this Sado island trip.

Cheers,

Weekend So Far

hey all,

It has been a busy weekend so far, and it's only half done. Last night, one of the outdoor club members organized a movie trip, as she somehow got like 20 free tickets. About 4 of us wanted to see the new Transformers movie, and I was part of that group. First, we all headed over to an Irish pub to get dinner and drink, then went to the theater.

The movie was pretty decent, continuing the pattern established by the first movie of lots of comic relief provided by the parents and Autobots, and lots of humorous sexual innuendo.

After that, I headed back to Omiya, but I had already decided that I'd go out. I picked up some food, since I hadn't eaten at the bar (too expensive). First I stopped by the Hub, but it was thinning out as it was around 1AM. So, I ended up hanging out with Masa and a bunch of people from his building at a karaoke bar. If you've seen Lost in Translation, this is another one of those things that I didn't really believe while I watched it. So this deserves some explanation.

When I think of karaoke bars, I think of a building that looks like a bar, and happens to have a karaoke machine. This type of structure would not work in Japan, because karaoke is too popular. (I also suspect that having a multifunctional space is somehow abhorant.) Instead, there is a warren of small sound proofed rooms, all with karaoke machines. It is all you can eat/drink from 11PM-5AM, for around $25/person.

So you drink, eat, and yes, sing very badly for 5 hours. It was pretty fun.

Cheers,

Enkai, Weekend and Week Plans

hey all,

So yesterday my school had their enkai, which is an all you can eat/drink social affair with the school staff. For a lot of ALT's, this means you get to see your fellow teachers get drunk and work up the courage to talk to you for the first time.

For me, it meant paying 6,000 Yen for lots of pretty decent food and a little alcohol while playing several games. We did Bingo, and also a multistage competition between the first, second, and third year teachers, and the administrative staff (the group that I belonged to), that involved picking up dried beans with chopsticks (tricky even for people who use them every day of their lives), doing pushups, and drawing a picture. The games where pretty fun, but a lot of people drove to the restaurant, so most were not drinking very heavily. As at work, I was still ignored most of the time by most of the people.

After that, I ran into one of the new ALTs (the replacement for the replacement that quit before his first day of work), and we went over to the Hub in Omiya for a few drinks. Pretty good time, as I ran into a bunch of drinking buddies there and got a phone number from a cute Japanese girl.

A special trip to an island was planned for this weekend, but they left Friday night by boat from Tokyo, while I was drinking with my teachers. There is another trip that will take me back to Okutama, the first hike I did with the outdoor club. The plan is to leave tomorrow, hike for several hours, stay in a lodge for the night, and check out a cave the next day. We will be hiking the tallest mountain in Tokyo prefecture (Kumotori-yama), and visiting the largest cave (Nippara) in the Kanto region (which includes Tokyo, Saitama, Chiba, Tochigi, Gunma, and Kanagawa prefectures).

Tuesday I will rest up for my planned climb of Mt Fuji on Wednesday/Thursday. Fuji is so huge that most people climb all day the first day, rest in one of several huts most of the way up the mountain for a few hours, and try to reach the peak at dawn, which is supposed to be one of the most amazing sights you will ever see. A good part of the second day is spent getting off the mountain.

Next weekend looks free at the moment. The rainy season has, I believe, officially ended. Despite that, it did rain quite a bit yesterday. However, it brought a brief respite from the heat, which has been hovering around 35 C, or 95 F for most of the last week. I've been trying to get a weather widget to work on this blog, so you all can see how ridiculous the weather is over here, but so far it seems buggy and instantly reverts to the default of New York instead of displaying the weather in Omiya.

I hear that it will rise above 35 C for most of next month, in addition to being humid, which is why even Japanese people detest their summer weather.

Cheers,

First Club Meet-up

hey all,

Last night I attended a social meet-up for the Outdoor club. It was held at a pretty decent Mexican restaurant in Ebisu, and we had about 30 or 40 people come. I talked with a lot of other foreigners, but no Japanese people. They seemed like pretty nice people, and tomorrow some of them are going on the hike that was cancelled last week, and I'm planning on going to. The weather looks bad again, but we'll see.

Cheers,

Drinking Japan

A variant of umeshu, Japanese plum liquor.

Very tasty umeshu.

A medium quality sake

Yoghurt-Drink (That's what the label says)